The Matchmaker
by AtillatheHun
Summary: A hag, having recently lost her own love has dubbed herself 'The Matchmaker'. When she sees Hermoine and Draco fighting, she belives that they are destined for love, and sends them on an involentary trip...
1. Diagon Alley

The Matchmaker 

Summery-

An old hag, having recently lost her own true love has dubbed herself "The Matchmaker". When she sees Hermoine and Draco having a full blown battle in one of the alleys in Diagon Alley she feels that they are actually in love, and sends them on an involuntary trip to "Discover themselves." But they'll discover more than that…

Romance/ Action/ Adventure

A/N-

I don't own Harry Potter. Simple as that. I do, however own the Matchmaker and this plot. All other characters are property of the marvelous J.K. Rowling. If you have a question or comment, feel free to email me or review ( hint- I love getting them). I generally update near the end of the week, but if I am in a very productive mood I may get more done. Enjoy!

Chapter One- Diagon Alley

"Hermoine, Ginny, GET UP THIS INSTANT!" Mrs. Weasly's shrill voice pierced through the morning's drowsy silence. "If we want to get to Diagon Alley today, you two have to be up before 9 o'clock!"

Hermoine stumbled sleepily out of her bed in the Burrow, closely followed by her best friends' sister. "Alright, mum, we heard you! We'll be right down." Ginny yelled at the door. Hermoine rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"Hey Gin, what's up with your mum and being awake early? It's still summer, we're supposed to be sleeping in."

"I know, but she's been having trouble sleeping ever since Percy left. Fred and George have taken to giving us sleeping potions to slip in her tea." Ginny said with a grin. "That is, until she caught Ron at it! Oh, you should have heard her, she went hoarse for a week!"

Hermoine smiled too. "Well, lets get dressed then, before she has a heart attack." Hermoine opened her trunk and pulled on a pair of faded jeans and a shirt that said "My cat can beat up your dog."

When Ginny saw Hermione's shirt, her sour face broke into a mischievous grin. "Nice. perfectly describes Crookshanks." Hermoine looked down at her shirt and giggled. "I know. I found it in a muggle shop and I thought it was perfect." Hermoine said happily. Ginny was also dressed, so after brushing their hair and teeth, the two went down the narrow steps leading to the kitchen.

Hermoine and Ginny walked into the kitchen just as Harry and Ron were finishing their last bits of toast and eggs.

"Hey." Harry greeted them.

"Hi!" Hermoine and Ginny said in unison. This was the trio's seventh year at Hogwarts, and Harry and Ginny were officially a couple, as were Ron and Lavender. Ginny was often expressing her opinion that Hermoine should find a man of her own. Hermoine, though, was quite happy to be single, she felt a boyfriend would interfere with her school work. Deep down, though, her heart ached for someone she could love- and someone that would hold her when she was sad, and someone who…

"HELLO! Earth to Hermoine!" "What?" She asked, confused.

Ron roared with laughter, while Harry said, bemused "I said, we're ready to go. You should go grab your stuff."

"Right," said a very embarrassed Hermoine. "I'll be right back!" Hermoine turned and sprinted up the stairs. When she got into Ginny's room, she grabbed her black messenger bag and put in it her money bag, school supply list and her wand, before running back down the stairs.

"Ok, I'm ready." she said breathlessly when she reappeared in the small kitchen. "Good, and just in time too." Ron whispered as a annoyed- looking Mrs. Weasly came into the kitchen. "Well, nice of you two to join us." she said nastily to Hermoine and Ginny, who looked at each other guiltily.

"Well mum," Ron asked tentatively "Should we get going?"

"Oh! Goodness, yes! We should have gone fifteen minutes ago! We'll have to use floo powder since Ginny didn't pass her apparation test." Mrs. Weasly said as she walked over to the fireplace and took the pot that contained the magic powder. This was true; Ginny had first attempted apparition a few days ago, She had gone twenty miles off of where she had been aiming for, and landed on an old muggle man that was in a rather fowl mood (Several memories had to modified, including Ginny's. Her mother hadn't wanted her daughter to remember those words).

Ginny strode up to her mother and grabbed a fistful of floo powder before saying huffily "Diagon Alley!" Following her was Hermoine, Harry, Ron, and finally Mrs. Weasly, and with a final cry of "Diagon Alley!" the Burrow disappeared from her view.

Thanks for reading thus far, I'll try to get the next chapter up soon, and next chapter we have DRACO! I would really appreciate it if you review, Creative criticism is loved, and Flames are tolerated although not encouraged. Thanks very much!


	2. The wilderness

The Matchmaker 

Summery-  
An old hag, having recently lost her own true love has dubbed herself "The Matchmaker". When she sees Hermoine and Draco having a full blown battle in one of the alleys in Diagon Alley she feels that they are actually in love, and sends them on an involuntary trip to "Discover themselves." But they'll discover more than that…

Romance/ Action/ Adventure

Rating- T (for later scenes and language, may be up-ed later…)

A/N-  
I don't own Harry Potter. Simple as that. I do, however own the Matchmaker and this plot. All other characters are property of the marvelous J.K. Rowling. If you have a question or comment, feel free to email me or review ( hint- I love getting them). I generally update near the end of the week, but if I am in a very productive mood I may get more done. Enjoy!

Chapter 2- Into the Wilderness

"Alright, Hermoine, Ron and Harry, Go ahead to and buy your supplies. Here, Ron dear, here's a few Galleons to buy your books and other things with. And you have dirt on your nose again. Honestly, I'll never figure out how you manage to get dirt up there. Ginny, come along with me." Mrs. Weasly said to the group of teenagers. "We'll meet back in front of Gringotts in three hours. Be good, and don't spend too much time in Fred and George's little shop."

"I know how Ron gets dirt on his nose," Harry said as they watched Mrs. Weasly fighting with Ginny outside of Madam Malkin's. "he snogs mandrakes all day."

Ron hit Harry on the arm and said "Well, at least I don't…"

"Alright! That's enough!" Hermoine cut in. She could easily see where this was headed.

"We were just joking, 'Mione. Harry doesn't actually believe I snog Mandrakes." Said Ron cheerfully. "Do you, Harry?" He added dangerously.

"Of- of course I don't." said Harry, pretending to cower with fear. The two of them looked at each other, and then roared with laughter.

Hermoine snorted to keep from smiling at her two best friends. Oh, how she loved them. But it was only brother- sisterly love, and they knew that.

"So," she said loudly, "where do you think we should head first?"

"Well," Harry said, checking his list, "I need to head to the apothery. My potions kit is nearly empty. I had to borrow from Neville last year. It was horrible." And so the three went off in the direction of the potions store.

------------------------------

Several hours and many galleons later, they were all laden with bags from various wizarding stores. Hermoine checked her list one last time.

"Oh no!" Hermoine moaned. "I forgot to get Arithmacy for the Advanced! I'm going to nip over to Flourish and Blott's quick to grab a copy."

"Alright, while you do that, me and Harry are going to go check out that new Quiddich supply store on the corner. Meet us there when you're done, Ok?" Ron said, looking eagerly at the rows of State-of-the-art brooms.

"Bye!" Hermoine said before she rushed off to find her book. Glancing at her watch, she figured she had about fifteen minutes left before they had to be back at Gringotts. Deciding to take a shortcut, she snuck into an alley and started to run toward the back of a building she knew was Flourish and Blott's, when suddenly someone jumped out at her. Someone with White-Blonde hair and steel-grey eyes.

Draco Malfoy was standing right in front of her.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little mud blood. Where are Potty and the Weasel? Oh, I know. They finally ditched you. About time too." Draco smirked.

"Leave me alone, Malfoy, or I'll turn you into a ferret. I actually prefer you that way." Hermoine shot back. The next thing she knew, Draco had slapped her. Hard. "Ow!" Said Hermoine, tears forming in her eyes.

"You're only a Mudblood, Granger. You don't even deserve to be alive. And don't you dare talk to your superiors that way." Draco spat.

"Oh really, Malfoy?" Hermoine said with hate in her watery eyes. "I was under the impression that I was talking to you, not a superior."

Draco pulled out his wand, preparing to hex the Hell out of her, when suddenly, a bright light shone in between them. It was so bright, that both Hermoine and Draco shielded their eyes from it.

When Hermoine opened her eyes, she found she was in the Wilderness somewhere. It wasn't exactly the wilderness- There was a huge lake in front of them, and a large garden overgrown with weeds. Where they were standing was a large clearing, and the trees all around it were about 50 feet high.

"Wow." Hermoine breathed. Draco, by this time, had also opened his eyes.

"Where the Bloody Hell are we, Granger?" Malfoy asked irritably.

But before Hermoine could answer, a large woman with shoulder-length black hair, and black onyx eyes stepped forward. Her skin was pale, and she was wearing a long, black cloak.

"You, my dears are in the middle of an enchanted forest- it's my personal hide away." When the woman spoke, her voice was very oily. It sounded beautiful.

Hermoine tried to speak, but the woman stopped her.

"You may be wondering why I brought you here? Well, it all started a few months ago, I had recently discovered I was in love with a human, we had bickered for years, but we discovered we were in love. The day before we were to get married, he died tragically in a car crash." At this point, she stopped to dab a black handkerchief at her eyes.

"So, I have named myself 'The matchmaker'. I take it as a personal responsibility to pair together two people for a year, and get them to love each other. And I have picked you two." The strange woman finished.

Draco and Hermoine looked at each other.

"No, absolutely not. I could never even like him!" Hermoine spat at Draco.

Draco sputtered, "I would never lay my hands on a filthy little Mudblood! Who the Hell are you, anyway?"

"I shall not disclose my real name, because that could get me in trouble. But, I'll tell you that I am a hag, since the blonde one looks to dumb to know." Said the Matchmaker.

"But hags are old and ugly!" Malfoy said, "And they can't do magic."

"Au Contraire, Malfoy," Hermoine said, frowning at his naïve-ness. "Hags can make themselves look however they want. And they're almost as powerful as wizards."

"Thank you, Miss." The hag said, smiling at her. "I shall now be giving you your supplies. But first, I'll be needing your wands. No hexing each other while I'm away." Hermoine and Draco's wands flew out of their hands and disappeared. When she heard the noises of outrage when their only hope of leaving disappeared, she figured that they were worried about their wands.

"Don't worry, you'll get them back later." She said sweetly. "Now, here are the tools you get: A knife, A pot, Flint and Steel, Some cloth, a needle and thread, and a spade. Have a nice year! Oh, and I almost forgot. Every month I'll drop by to see how your doing."

And with that, she departed, leaving a bag containing the supplies in her wake.

"Well, that's just GREAT." Draco said irritably. "Good one, Granger." He added sarcastically.

"Malfoy, It…" Hermoine started angrily, but Draco cut her off.

"Ok, Mudblood. I'm going to lay down the ground rules. Firstly, you will be calling me 'Master' at all times. Secondly, you get to do all the work. Cook, clean, build, and whatever else. That is, along with attending to my every whim. Understood?"

"Hell no!" Hermoine said. "I will not be your slave for the next year!"

Draco walked up, and hit her so hard on the face, that she was sure she would have a bruise.

"Oh, you will, that is, if you want to get out alive." Draco said evilly. "Understood?"

"Fine." Hermoine said indignantly, still clutching her cheek.

Draco hit her again.

"I said, call me master!"

"Yes, Master." Hermoine said with loathing in her eyes.

Well, that is the End of chapter two. Draco is turning out to be a real git, isn't he? Don't worry, he'll get better. And now, some thank- you's!

xOxOkIsSmYaSsXoXo - Well, this is a bit longer than the other one, the chapters always seem longer on paper than when you type them up… Thanks for your review!

Audrey- Thanks! And here is your update…

Piper Wyatt Fan - Thank you! I hope you'll keep reading, and I hope this will be interesting…


	3. Feelings

Hello, I'm back! I know, it's been horrible lately. But, hopefully the break is over, and I'll be back on schedule.

A/N- No, I don't own Harry Potter.

Nope, still don't own it.

Hermoine was on the ground, where Malfoy had left her. Tears came to her eyes unwillingly. She was still trying to believe this was some weird dream, or nightmare. She had never heard of this happening before- not even in Muggle movies where anything could happen.

Hermoine looked around the small clearing she was in. It would have been nice, if she was there to go camping with her parents. She was surrounded by trees, there was a small shack in one corner, a garden in another, and small stream flowing near the edge of the trees on one side. Malfoy had gone, and was dangling his feet in the creek. It would have been a beautiful place, if it weren't for one of its occupants.

She rubbed her cheek tenderly, knowing there was going to be a bruise. She got up from the ground, and brushed herself off. She walked to the garden to see what sort of shape it was in. Hermoine was getting hungry, and it wasn't likely that there were Big Macs in the small shanty.

The garden was quite extensive, having fruits, beans, potatoes, spinach, asparagus, and other edible plants in it. Hermoine hadn't ever gardened much, only being home two months out of the year, but when she was younger her mother had taken her out into the Granger's small, yet neatly tended, garden. Immediately, Hermoine knew it was a mistake to think about her parents. She wasn't going to miss seeing them, but to know what was going on. She was used to not seeing her mom or dad for months at a time, but she almost always went home for Christmas and Easter.

Hermoine shook her head. It wasn't going to help her to brood over her parents and friends. She stepped into the garden, and grabbed the nearest tomato. And then a handful of spinach leaves. Running out of hands to hold items, she lifted her shirt partway to her belly was showing a little. She put the tomato and leaves into her shirt, making a mini-apron. Gathering some more vegetables at random, she filled her shirt and then set back towards where the bag of supplies was still sitting.

Draco was dangling his feet into the water, fuming. The mudblood, of all people he could have gotten stuck with, he was with the mudblood! He wasn't planning on being there very long, he knew his father would find him soon enough. But to have to stay for two seconds with that mudblood! He could only hope he wouldn't go crazy.

The stream was crystal-clear and had quite a fast current. Not too fast, that there wouldn't be some fish, but fast enough. Draco was getting hungry too. The last meal he had had was a quick bagel on the way to Diagon Alley.

'I wonder if Granger is finding anything to eat.' Draco thought. His stomach was growling, but he didn't know if he could trust her not to poison him. But no, that's the way he thought. Girls didn't think that way, most girls anyway. They were too caring, too kind, too worried about another person's _feelings. _Definitely another reason why males are superior. Girls are only good for one thing. Except for Granger. She's not even worth a Knut.

A/N Yeah, that's it. It's kinda short, I know. Only 600 words. Anyway, I'll try to get working again.


	4. Wood

Without ado, here is the 4th Chapter! A little late…

* * *

Disclaimer- No, I don't own Harry Potter. Surprise. 

Hermione hated summer. It was way too hot, and there were too many bugs. She smacked her head, trying to get a mosquito off of it. The sun was starting to set, so she figured she had better use the remaining light to try to get firewood for the night.

Supper had been a disaster. Hermione had filled a pot with water, and put the scarce vegetables in it after it had heated up. The result was a thin, almost inedible soup. Malfoy had said nothing, which scared her more than his violence.

A quick look at the small shack she and Malfoy would be sharing took less time to see than to describe. There was a double bed with an itchy, wool comforter in the same drab shade of brown as the cloth the old hag had left them, with a mattress almost as hard as the ground. The floor was remarkably dirty, made of graying boards. A fireplace took up about half of one of the bare walls, of the same make of the floor, save for the small window near the door.

This was Hermione's fourth trip to get firewood, which looked more like kindling than anything else. She lugged it back to the shanty, with some of the sharper branches digging into her arms. After dumping the sticks onto the floor and pushing them into some sort of order with her foot, she looked up to see Malfoy with his arms crossed, looking at her.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I don't suppose you bothered to look behind this outhouse." Draco drawled. Hermione looked puzzled for minute, before walking out to have a look. Typical Mudblood. She had surprised him, though. _He _wouldn't have known how to start a fire with just a puny little rock and some metal. Not that he was going to be admitting_ that_ anytime soon. He supposed that without Wizards, her kind would still be living in caves, eating bugs.

Draco had made an important discovery when he when he went behind the little shack to take a leak. There was a little pile of fire wood, with a chopping block and an ax stuck into it. He knew this a while before supper, and was silently laughing while watching her bring those stacks of sticks. Not very nice… but she had the nerve to serve him that… that _gruel._ What she had made for supper, he wouldn't feed to his least favorite house elf! That was just cruel and unusual.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione had walked back behind the house. She was… pissed. She didn't get pissed much. Sure, she got angry. But this was beyond that. Her eyes welled up. Her lower lip trembled. She sank to her knees. For the second time that day, she was crying. Sobbing uncontrollably. Bawling like a newborn baby. If she had looked up, she would have noticed Malfoy peeking around from the side of the shanty, looking thoroughly confused. He couldn't figure out, for the life of him, _why_ she would be crying. If anything, she should be glad; this meant she had less than half the work to do!

Hermione was crying, and she was wondering the same thing. She should be happy! But she was angry. She was frustrated, tired, dirty, and hungry. The day had been too much. She could hardly believe that just that morning; she had been worried about whether she would have enough galleons left over to buy _"An insider's guide to Dragons, Unicorns, Phoenixes, and other magical beasts"_.

Life had changed drastically. She now had to worry about getting enough food to eat, and whether Malfoy was going to hit her for speaking her mind. And her friends must be frantically searching for her! She wished she had a book to curl up with to take her mind off of things. But she didn't. Life would be her book. She would try to bear it, try to survive. Try to look at life as a story, a fairytale. Wiping her eyes, she got up, straightened her shoulders, and walked into the shack again.

* * *

A/N- Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I really do appreciate it. Drop me a line as a review, or as an e-mail, I love to hear what you think! My e-mail is on my userpage, or, if you prefer, here it is:

(take out the spaces) pirate-girl (at) hot mail (dot) com


	5. A Handfull of Berries

Chapter Five

Whoa, I'm really getting these done. I guess I'm starting to get into the story more. Which is a good thing.

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter. Oh snap.

* * *

Draco saw Granger walk into the house, and he couldn't tell she had been crying right away. Her eyes were a little puffy, but that was the only tell-tale sign.

"I'm going to go bathe in the stream. So please don't come outside." And with that, Granger turned and left again. Malfoy toyed with the idea of surprising her, but that would be mean, even for him. As he surveyed his bleak surroundings, he looked for something to amuse himself.

Hermione dipped her now-bare foot into the brook. It definitely wasn't warm. It was downright chilly even. But she was hot and sweaty and dirty. Carefully looking back at the shack to make sure Malfoy wasn't peering out the window, she quickly pulled off her shirt and pants. Now only in her underclothes, she quickly got into the water. She'd rather have damp underwear than have him see her naked.

The water was freezing. Hermione quickly scrubbed herself pink with some of the sand at the bottom of the river. With another quick glance at the small house, she got up, shook herself off, and pulled on her shirt and jeans.

Hermione was shivering with cold by the time she got to the Matchmaker's house, and she had brought the supplies that were outside, in. When she got inside, she saw a very red faced Malfoy sitting by the hearth, with the flint and steel in his hands.

"Come ON, damn it!" Malfoy was trying to start a log on fire, as he had seen Hermione doing earlier.

"Malfoy, you can't do it that way! The log will never start on fire! You have to-" Hermione started.

Draco cut her off. "I don't need help from_ you_. I can figure it out by myself!"

"Fine! I'll just go to sleep then, since you obviously don't need my help. Good night, Malfoy." Hermione seethed. She then walked over to one side of the little hut, grabbed one of the blankets, and settled herself on the floor. It was almost an unspoken agreement that she would sleep on the floor. Hermione curled herself into a little ball and tried to get comfortable while hearing mutterings from over where Malfoy was still crouching, sounding like "stupid mudblood", "I'll do it myself", "Damn muggle contraption".

Eventually Hermione fell asleep, but slept fitfully. She had strange dreams all night, where she was trying to find something, but she couldn't tell what.

Hermione awoke to chirping birds and a small amount of sunlight filtering through the grimy window. She looked over at Malfoy's bed. It didn't look slept in. The flint and steel were lying in near the hearth, with splintered twigs and the unburned log. She inwardly smiled. So she _was_ useful for something.

Hermione rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Time to get breakfast going. Where was Malfoy? Probably outside, doing nothing, just wandering around aimlessly. For breakfast, there would most likely be berries; indeed, she found two handfuls of raspberries that looked a little overripe. She put one of the handfuls on Malfoy's bed, and went out for a walk after eating her own.

There wasn't much to do around in the clearing, so she went into the forest a ways again. Not really noticing anything out of the ordinary, she started back for the little garden again. It must have been near noon by then, and Malfoy would surly be back by then.

But he wasn't.

* * *

A/N- Thanks for all of you who reviewed! A tiny cliff-hanger here, but I wanted to get it up before I go to bed. Not quite as long as I'd like it to be but…. Ah well. 


End file.
